


Save Me From the Dark

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Jurassic Park Original Trilogy (Movies)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Developing Relationship, Hospitals, Multi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Threesome, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 04:46:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17400284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: Getting to the chopper was only the first step. Alan finds that there are many more to come.





	Save Me From the Dark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Prix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prix/gifts).



> I wrote this for your YT 2017 prompt, but didn't quite get it finished and posted before YT 2018 started! Sorry that it is late! :D

"You uh- you really don't have to do this." Ian said.

Alan simply ignored him and continued to push the wheelchair through the hotel lobby.

Ellie chose to answer in his stead. "Ian, you know we have to stay here until the inquiry with the shareholders and the lawyers is done."

Ian mumbled something about lawyers that Alan chose to ignore in favor of lining him up with the elevator door in such a way that it would be easy to enter, but no one leaving it in a hurry would run into them. He had learned this the hard way with Ellie two weeks ago, and had no intention of doing the same with Ian today.

"Regardless of your opinion of them, we still have to go," Ellie said, pushing the up button for them. "And until then, none of us can go back to our normal lives, so a hotel is a must. And if we're all going to be in hotels, you might as well be in the same one as us."

"It is hard to, uh, to argue with that logic." Ian admitted. "But there are other-"

"And unless you want to be staying in hospice care with nurses you'll need someone who can help you reach things and get the lights and what not, because staying by yourself is not an option," Ellie said firmly.

"Well that's- that certainly-"

"And we need to be close to the hospital for check ups and physical therapy appointments," Ellie continued blithely as the elevator opened, "so it makes sense to be in a hotel so close to the hospital."

The rush of people exiting finished, so Alan calmly backed Ian into the elevator, in the move he had perfected with Ellie.

"Right, that- that does make sense-" Ian agreed. "But-"

"Do you want to be all by yourself?" Ellie demanded. "Is sharing a room with us that much of an imposition?"

"No!" Ian quickly protested. "No, no, no. I just- you two are- a- and- good lord."

Ellie had pushed the button for their floor, almost at the top, and Ian's eyes went wide.

"Hammond is paying," Alan said, before Ian could protest further. He could see the gears turning in Ian's mind at that, and the other counters Ellie had presented for each of his objections.

Alan wasn't sure why Ian was objecting in the first place. He wasn't able to walk on his own, and Ellie had essentially decided to kidnap him back to their hotel room. Whether Ian wanted to stay with them or not, he didn't really have a choice.

Still, the protests were currently amusing Ellie, and until that amusement turned to annoyance, Alan was willing to tolerate anything.

Ian was silent for the rest of the ride, until they were part-way down the hall. "How are the- the kids?"

"Their parents flew in," Alan said. "They're all staying together just down the hall from us. They might come over for a visit." Lex and Tim had visited several times, and their parents once, to thank Alan and Ellie for saving them, but Hammond had been conspicuously absent.

"And when you're able to come down for meals in the dining room you'll see them all," Ellie added.

They reached their suite, and Ellie swiped the card to let them in, as Alan carefully maneuvered Ian inside without knocking his leg against the door; again something he had gotten a lot of practice with in the last two weeks.

"Anyway, now you're here, and you can't escape on your own," he said, wheeling Ian up to the kitchenette table. "So you might as well just accept that you're staying with us until you're better."

Ian slumped, but didn't protest.

oOo

The fourth time that Ian woke them up with nightmares, apologizing profusely, Ellie finally lost her top. "Why do you think one of us is always right by your side as soon as you wake up? Do you think we could do that if we were still asleep in the other room? Do you think you're the only one with nightmares? You were tucked up safe in the shelter half the time!"

She burst into tears, while Ian awkwardly stammered more apologies. Alan simply poured a second cup of chamomile tea for her before adding a good squirt of honey. After thinking for a moment, he added a shot of gin from the minibar to each cup as well.

While his doctor had warned Alan against the dangers of using lots of alcohol to drown out his terrors, a glass here or there was fine. Alan's mother used to make hot toddies this way when he was younger, and as long as there was more honey than gin, Alan didn't think their doctor would object.

Once he had set the tea tray down on Ian's bedside table and handed one mug to each of his crying roommates, Alan went back to the kitchen to make one for himself. He hadn't even fallen asleep yet himself, still watching late night infomercials, when Ellie had woken, kicking and grunting from the strain of kicking the door closed. It was the moment right before she found Mr. Arnold's arm, and Alan hurried to wake her up completely before she got to that point in the nightmare.

The electric kettle had just finished heating when Ian had shouted from the other room, and Ellie had gone in to comfort him. Now Alan didn't think any of them would be sleeping any time soon.

oOo

As the meeting broke up, Alan quickly checked his watch. They would just be on time to get to Ellie and Ian's appointments. The question was whether he should escort Ian to the hospital for his physio session or Ellie to their suite for her meeting with their psychologist.

Ellie made up his mind for him, giving both Alan and Ian a quick peck on the cheek and saying "be careful out there." Then she left the hotel conference room and headed towards the elevators.

Her preference made clear, Alan fetched Ian's crutches from where they had been tucked against the wall and helped the other man to stand. The day after Ian got out of the hospital, Hammond had brought in a retired psychologist to see the group. Without other patients, he was free to exclusively see the 'dinosaur six,' as Tim had called them. With his own room in the hotel, Dr. Joe had daily appointments with both children and the older trio. He had also signed an NDA, and been told the basics of what happened, so they were able to tell the truth about their experiences.

Having worked with the military for most of his career, Dr. Joe was quite familiar with PTSD, and though the dinosaurs were a new development for him, the general gist of their experience wasn't unfamiliar.

Though initially a bit skeptical, Alan found the sessions actually helpful, and he hoped they were helping Ellie and Ian, and of course the kids. The last time Ian had come out of his room with Dr. Joe, he had been explaining some element of chaos theory, so Alan wasn't sure if he was actually getting help, or just deflecting. Deflecting was a word he had never heard of - at least in the psychiatric context - until he was told that he himself was doing it every time he changed the subject. Alan had learned quite a few new terms in the past month.

With yet another meeting with the lawyers finished, all that was left was for he and Ian to hobble down the street to the hospital for a different kind of appointment.

As they made the entire distance from hotel to PT department without Alan hearing a single distant roar or haunting hiss, Alan knew he would have some good news to report in his own session that night.

oOo

The first day back in the badlands, with Ellie beside him, and Ian tugging his bag out of the jeep Alan thought that everything looked the same. And yet, Alan knew, nothing really was. Ellie taking his hand in hers and squeezing it comfortingly felt the same, but Ian doing the same on the other side was new. Their trailer was the same, but trying to squeeze three into the bed wouldn't be. Having three years of funding already lined up, because Hammond kept his promise, was a new kind of relief that diggers like them rarely felt. But the bag of medications and the scheduled phone sessions with their group psychologist weren't as nice a kind of new.

Still, Alan was grateful to be back, and even more grateful to have Ian and Ellie by his side. And hopefully that would be enough.


End file.
